Girls Townie with BBSHD

[Rider]

This is a really great build. Did the suspension forks come on this bike? The color and decals make me think it did. Also, do you know what that little seatpost stub coming up off the bottom bracket that goes nowhere is for? Makes me think they put it there in case the frame buckles as a stop for the upper tube to hit, but that's just a thought...

[xcnick]

The forks came with the bike. I don't know what year this is. They do not offer the forks on their current line of bikes. No adjustment on the fork, but it is all this bike needs. The front tire has only 12 lbs of pressure which takes care of the small stuff and the fork is good for the bigger stuff. The stub is for a front derailleur. It was a 21 speed when I bought it. I want to cut it off and stick the motor up there. I also think I may use it to stabilize the motor with the bracket Luna sells to hold the motor in place. I have had the motor come loose twice now. Bike was only $250 on craigslist, which sounds like a steel, but they are only $500 new.

[Rider]

Front derailleur! (slapping my head as I say it) Looks like it would be a tight fit for that BBSHD up there.

You might try something like I did on my Soma B-Side. Made a replacement bracket that looks like the standard Bafang one, but has a third mounting bolt hole pointing to the rear that attaches to a clamp around the left rear stay. I also put a single wrap of aluminum duct tape around the slide in portion for a tighter fit and used tub seal around both sides of the bottom bracket before torqueing it down. Hasn't moved in 2,000+ miles.

[xcnick]

My affair has finally been revealed! Francesca asked the question about who owns The Townie. “The Townie can't be owned”, I said. Then the pettiness started. “You ride it more than I, If it is yours, I won't ride it”. “No, you don't understand,” I said, “the Townie is her own girl, but I WANT you to ride her. It is like two girls kissing, it is hot.”

So now there is another girl in the mix. But all is well. Francesca even remarked how much better the new gear ratios are!

Time to get wild. So west we go, to the wild west. When we hit the Kalifornia coast we saw signs that said it was not wild or west enough




Word has it Cape Blanco is the furthest west one can go in the continental US so we headed there.

At Crescent City we bought some jewelry. It was Francesca's idea, she wants a flashy red light in the rear. I wanted it installed because I always hope a sexy mid drive single track rock climbing Townnie-a-go-go, who can also satisfy grandma, will bring a smile to a bike enthusiast. I swear to God, not a mention of the thousands of Watts strapped to the crotch. Did he not notice? Or maybe just political correctness. Like someone who doesn't want to comment on the mole on my face. I know you see it...



We found the sign we were looking for.



However when we rode to the beach there were NO signs. I said: "Lets ride our bikes on the beach." This never even dawned on Francesca as a possibility. There is no better smile than when the experience is even better than you could have dreamed.





Cape Blanco has even more to offer. There are miles of horse trails, and no horses, so hours of single track with the dog off leash and the bikes on throttle.

The Sixes River is right there with a boat ramp making kayaking easy.

When the holiday hit, we decided to just stay. Good ol' boys showed up in their 4x4s to drive on the beach. At one point there was an Adventure motorcycle in trouble. You know, a 1,000 pound motorcycle that is terrible on the road, terrible on the dirt, and just stuck in the sand. The truck pulling it out was also stuck and three other trucks on the edge watching the carnage.

Francesca didn't even slow down but soldiered through. I had to stop at the edge just to hear the comments. I expected the usual: “Next time I get a DUI...” but heard a new one: “I wonder if I can put a gun rack on a Townie?”

This is a good crowd. We roosted, made donuts, and exhibited unnecessary power. Uninhibited, I put on the colored throttle..



Even the campground parade lap was fun. You know, when you parade your dog, bicycle or kids around the loop so you can peer into the other campsites, make their dogs bark, and check out their bikes. There was no pretending we were 250 watt peddle assist hub drives. We throttled by, pedaling backwards which made their kids and even their dogs break loose to check us out.

Francesca began using The Townie for everything. Didn't matter that there was a huge hill to get to the light house. Didn't matter the beach road was almost vertical. And then it happened, the moment I have waited for. Francesca said she was going to ride The Townie to the bathroom. Not “my bike,” or the “the bike”, she called her by name. SHE'S ALIVE!

[Mumps]

Can someone tell me the battery being used on this build (Ladies Step Thru Townie). Which battery fit in this space. Is it one you can buy at LunaCycles or if not where can you buy one that fits in this space on a Ladies Step Thru Townie?

[xcnick]

I used the 3p square battery. It was available a few weeks ago, but it is not up now. https://lunacycle.com/52v-panasonic-...ce-long-range/ I just fits perfectly in there. The bag is from Walmart. I can't find the Electra bag designed for there. I hope Luna will keep this battery. Calfree used it on his very nice paratrooper.A 2p mighty mini will fit at the very bottom, but with the 21 speed I would have to cut out the nub for front derailleur. But talk about keeping the weight low, a mighty mini down there does the trick.

[spinningmagnets]

Thanks for posting this! There aren't many women on the forums, but most of the male readership have wives or GFs that they might like to get an ebike, which would give them an activity that is healthy, and something they could do together...

[xcnick]

I hope the amateur engineers and ebike pirates get inspired to build it. "It" as I see it now is a enduro bike that has the same relation of weight. If a man of 175 enjoys a 50lb bike, what does a woman (or man) of 110 lbs need the ebike to weigh? I am thinking a 24" like the Kona I did with the new 500 bafang. Build "it" and they might come. I doubt the entire world is as heavy as Mericans.

The Townie of course is not an "it" or an engineering project. She's alive!

[CC Rider]

Hi xcnick, I got an old Townie like this with front suspension and am building one for my wife...she too wanted to sit straight up. I'm getting ready to replace the rear derailleur with a long cage version. I am challenged with finding the right cassette for the freewheel configuration. I think 8 speed is adequate something like this https://www.amazon.com/JGbike-Sunrac.../dp/B07257WK61
Any advice on if this will work or links would be appreciated. Also I noticed you have XTR, but I've heard that XT are more durable, and heavier (which doesn't matter with an e-bike). I guess eBay is the best place to get an old long cage XT 8 speed derailleur? Thanks for this post and all the info.

[xcnick]

Sorry I took so long. Still don't get notifications. I have gone back to the stock 7 speed, it has the 34 tooth on the big side. Just start there with a 42 tooth chain ring. I would be surprised if you need a lower gear. The XTR was stupid. It is on a Nomad right now. Looks cool but I am sure there is a better 10 speed out there. Sunrace is the cassette to look for. They have now come out with a 11 to 50 or 52! They even have a 9 speed that is crazy big... finally. I have a bunch of 9 speeds and will probably use the big sunrace 9 speed next time.

[CC Rider]

Hi xcenic, thanks for the reply. Since I originally posted I found out the difference between Freewheel and Freehub Cassette and have determined the Townie to be the Freewheel version, which does not really give you many options in general. The standard Shimano Tourney rear derailleur on the Townie didn't work when I bought the bike (used), hence i got a good deal. My solution will be to take her old bike (2009 Trek MTB with Shimano XT Deore) and move the wheel, rear derailleur and shifter over to the Townie. Since it is an 8 speed Shimano Cassette (11-32T) that is on a freewheel hub I can upgrade it to the Sunrace 11-40T when I have time. I put the wheel on the Townie and it fits fine.

I think I have an older Townie frame with less clearance because I can't see how you fit a 2.8" tire on yours, but my wife says she will be fine with a 2.25".

I want to get the BBHSD for durability (as opposed to the BBS02). Was the 1500Watts too much power for your wife? Did you program the controller so PAS 1 produced less power than the standard setting out of Luna? Link (fhttps://electricbike.com/forum/foru...gramming/page6).

Thanks again for posting this - spinning-magnets was right, there will be a whole bunch of Townie e-biker chicks out there someday :-) - I'll post a picture when done.

[xcnick]

Sweet drive train! Be proud of that one. The tire was WTB Ranger and it fit pretty easily. It is on the rear. A thinner mud tire is in the shimmano sus fork.

Is it too much power? No. I will try to attach the file I use. Basically set so one doesn't get very much out of the lower PAS ramping up at whatever rate this file is.

Do everything thing you can to get to start slow on throttle, but it still won't be enough for a first timer. Start in too high a gear for their first time.

Too much for her? Anything for her is opening a can of worms worthy of a War and Peace novel. She uses all the power, we have steep hills. My problem is that I scarred her for life with the throttle thing. Because of a life threatening death ride in front of 3000 of our closest friends, it is now disconnected. With a throttle to get started cadence PAS is a fine way to ride ebikes. However we get stopped on hills and she faces the worst part of her poor townie, cadence only, no throttle.

Back to War and Peace, she always reminds me to stop changing the bike and figure out a way she can get it on and off the car by herself.

PS, have you seen the new Saphire Blue Townie-Go. That got a rise out of her.

[xcnick]

Try number 2 Townie-6-progresion.el

[xcnick]

It got me thinking about how ebikes are their own animal and yet skill development is not something we don't talk about as much... if at all. Then there are so many ways to control an ebike.

[CC Rider]

We have steep hills here as well. My wife like the idea of being able to get up the hills and go riding with me but she loathes the thought of using throttle because she sees lazy kids in OC riding their bikes around with throttle only on the flats...we already have non-e-bikes for the flats I keep telling her that we can program PAS 1 & 2 to be a hill climbing machine at a pace she likes, and she will use throttle just to get up and over the 'special events'. I feel sorry for your wife about the throttle incident, but that would probably go viral on you tube if a video exists :-)

BBHSD and end user training it is! WTB Trail Boss 26' x 2.25 tire's. pictures to follow once the kit is procured and installed. Thanks again xcnick!

[CC Rider]

Hi Xcnick,

Follwing up with build pictures as promised. I waited for the Black Friday special from Luna and it was worth it. I upgraded the BBHSD kit to included the 500c mini display and Wolf Pack 13.5 Ah pack with MJ1 cells. I added the 42T Eclipse chain ring and gear sensor to compliment the Shimano Deore drive train and Shimano HG all metal casette. 8 speeds are plenty for how the e-bike will be used.

The only challenging part of the build was fitting the Wolf Pack in between the top & bottom tubes on the magnetic mounting plate from Luna. I installed four 5 mm Rivnuts for strength in the middle of the bottom tube. Installing the magnetic mounting plate i put two washers on the outside two rivnuts between the frame and the plate to accommodate for the curve of the bottom tube and reinforce the support. After trying unsuccessfully to mount the battery to the magnetic plate, I moved the bracket down the tube a bit to allow for the last bit of space necessary to wrestle it in place. The bonus is that someone cannot steal this battery without a lot of work.
.
The Kinext Suspension Seat post is really the best upgrade of all. The weight distribution is pretty spot on given the power of the BBHSD. I added the Electra rear rack and will be getting Pannier packs for some XC travel or trips to the grocery store. The next upgrade will be for some additional braking power with Kool Stop brake pads. The front fork has mounts for a disk brake should we need additional braking power. It would require a new wheel and full disk brake kit, so I might just wait and see if there is a suspension fork that will fit the proprietary head tube of the Townie Electra before throwing good money after bad.

Thank you for sharing your build and inspiring others to hit the trail with their wives! Happy Holidays!

[xcnick]

Wow, getting the wolf pack in there is a great addition. Our suspension fork is developing some play and I can't get another in the right color. Townie first world problems. Love the tires! I had to stop Francesca trail riding so we went to white Fat Franks.

[CC Rider]

Karen did her first single track flow trail riding this weekend at Elling Park in Santa Barbara; slow but steady.

Here is an interesting article on replacing a front fork on a Townie. Not too expensive either Suntour XC

[xcnick]

Paint matching has me stumped. However I did just buy an entire bike off craigslist in the same color for less than my auto shop wanted to match the paint and a new suntour.. This bi ke may live forever and that is just fine with Francesca. Her story, Karen's story, it will all add up to a great bicycle history story.